Football coaches never take too much stock in statistics, especially when they favor the other guy.

And it’s a good thing, too, or else the NIU coaches would have very little reason to believe the Huskies could beat the University of Wisconsin Saturday. Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

Check out these numbers: NIU is 0-12-1 against Big 10 Conference opponents and 0-7-0 versus Wisconsin. In those seven games the Badgers have beaten NIU by an average score of 30-10 with the Huskies never having come closer than their 14-3 loss in 1977.

So, naturally, NIU head coach Jerry Pettibone thinks his team can win.

“We’re the kind of team that likes that kind of challenge,” Pettibone said. “We’re the kind of team that likes those kinds of odds.”

That’s another thing about football coaches; they’re eternal optimists.

But there really is reason for optimism. Really.

For starters, there is Wisconsin’s season opener against Western Michigan two weeks ago. The Broncos, despite being known as a passing team, ran wild through the UW reduced Okie defense in a 24-14 upset win. Senior running back Rob Davis rushed for a career-high 136 yards as the Broncos got their first-ever victory over a Big 10 foe.

Western Michigan lost by 20 points to NIU last year. So, yes, it can be done.

Of course, when Wisconsin fell to WMU, the Badgers’ top running back, Marvin Artley, missed the game for disciplinary reasons. Artley will be in uniform against NIU, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“I’m sure Marvin Artley will be determined to show everybody the type of player he is,” Pettibone said.

Artley used his 6-foot-1, 225-pound body to rush for 995 yards last year and is the second-leading returning rusher in the Big 10 this season. Mike Daly, the Badgers’ defensive coordinator, said Artley’s return should give the whole team a lift.

“You’ve got to believe they’ll play more inspired with him around,” Daly said.

Daly, who was on hand at Huskie Stadium for NIU’s 14-10 win over Middle Tennessee State last Saturday, said he had been “looking forward” to seeing NIU quarterback Marshall Taylor play. But Taylor sat out last week’s game with a badly bruised jaw suffered the week before, and Daly, instead, saw junior college transfer James Darby lead the Huskie troops.

Still, Daly said he was more interested in watching the Huskies’ wishbone offense than individual performers. And the Badgers, who had an extra week to prepare for NIU, have been working on a way to stop the Huskie offense no matter who is at quarterback.

“The wishbone forces a defense to make changes,” Daly said. “We’ve worked about a week and a half on (stopping) the wishbone, and I wish we had about four more days.”

Daly said Wisconsin’s defensive woes against Western Michigan were caused by lack of intensity. To correct that problem, Daly had his squad go back to practicing “basic football” for about three days last week before preparing specifically for NIU’s wishbone.

“We didn’t make mental mistakes (against WMU),” Daly said. “Eight-yard plays became 25-yard plays because we didn’t make tackles. We didn’t play very inspired football against Western Michigan.”

Intensity should not be an issue for the Huskies Saturday, and NIU defensive coordinator Mike Summers made no secret of it.

“We’re extremely fired up to play Wisconsin,” Summers said. “We feel it’s a big opportunity for our football team.”

Like Artley’s return to the Badger lineup, Marshall Taylor’s expected return to the Huskies should provide an emotional boost for NIU. But more than just adding intensity, Taylor’s presence will allow Summers to call a more wide-open game than the 64 running plays and one pass that were called last week for Darby.

“We feel that Marshall Taylor is a threat,” Summers said. “We had to adjust our game last week and not put our defense in a bad situation. We were obviously conservative.”